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In Italy and France, respectively, it was called ''mezzadria'' and ''métayage'', or halving - the halving, that is, of the produce of the soil between landowner and land-holder. Halving didn't imply equal amounts of the produce but rather division according to agreement. The produce was divisible in certain definite proportions, which obviously must have varied with the varying fertility of the soil and other circumstances and did in practice vary so much that the [[landlord]]'s share was sometimes as much as two-thirds, sometimes as little as one-third. Sometimes the landlord supplied all the stock, sometimes only part - the cattle and seed perhaps, while the farmer provided the implements; or perhaps only half the seed and half the cattle, the farmer finding the other halves. Thus the ''instrumentum fundi'' of [[Roman Law]] was combined within métayage.<ref>Crook, J.A. (1967) ''Law and Life of Rome: 90 B.C. to A.D. 212'' Cornell Univ. Press: Ithaca, NY. p. 158</ref> Taxes were also frequently divided, being paid wholly by one or the other, or jointly by both.
In the 18th Century métayage agreements began to give way to agreements to share profits from the sale of the crops and to straight tenant farming, although the practice in its original form could still be found in isolated communities until the early 20th Century.<ref>Shaffer, John W. (1982) ''Family and Farm: Agrarian Change and Household Organization in the Loire Valley, 1500-1900'' State University of New York Press: Albany. {{ISBN|0-87395-562-5}}</ref> By 1929, there were still 200,000 Métayers, farming 11% of French cultivated land (same % in 1892). It was most common in [[Landes forest|Landes]] and [[Allier]] (72% and 49% respectively).<ref>Land Tenure and Political Tendency in Rural France: The Case of Sharecropping, S Sokoloff, European Studies Review, 1980, page 361</ref> As the métayage practice changed, the term ''colonat partiaire'' began to be applied to the old practice of sharing-out the actual crop, while métayage was used for the sharing-out of the proceeds from the sale of the crops. ''Colonat partiaire'' was still practised in the French overseas departments, notably [[Réunion]],<ref>[http://www.jir.fr/article.php3?id_article=129806 "Le colonat partiaire" ''Clicanoo, Journal de l'Ile de la Réunion'' 15 May 2006] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008061920/http://www.jir.fr/article.php3?id_article=129806 |date=8 October 2007 }};</ref> until 2006 when it was abolished.<ref>[http://www.admi.net/jo/20060106/AGRX0500091L.html Art. L. 462-28, French National Assembly, Law No 2006-11 of January 5 2006 ''Journal officiel de la République Française'' of January 6, 2006];</ref>
In France there was also a system termed ''métayage par groupes'', which consisted of letting a sizeable farm not to one métayer but to an association of several who would work together for the general good under the supervision of either the landlord or his bailiff. This arrangement got past the difficulty of finding tenants having sufficient capital and labour to run the larger farms.
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The system was once universal in certain provinces of [[Italy]] and [[France]], and survived there in places until the end of the nineteenth century. Similar systems formerly existed in [[Portugal]], [[Old Castile|Castile]],<ref>[http://libro.uca.edu/vassberg/land5.htm D. Vassberg "Land and Society in Golden Age Castile"]</ref> and in [[Greece]],<ref>Moreau-Christophe, Louis-Mathurin (1849) ''Du Droit a l'Oisiveté et de l'Organisation du Travail Servile Dans les Républiques Grecques et Romaine'' Chez Guillaumin et Ce, Libraires: Paris, pp. 258-261.</ref> and in the countries bordering on the [[Danube]]. It is tracked to this day in statistics of the [[European Commission]].<ref>[http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:329:0001:0028:FR:PDF eur-lex.eu: "RÈGLEMENT (CE) No 1200/2009 DE LA COMMISSION" 30 Nov 2009]</ref><ref>[http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2001:255:0001:0051:FR:PDF eur-lex.eu: "REGLEMENT (CE) No 1837/2001 DE LA COMMISSION" 10 Sep 2001]</ref><ref>[http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2002:216:0001:0041:FR:PDF eur-lex.eu: "RÈGLEMENT (CE) No 1444/2002 DE LA COMMISSION" 24 Jul 2002]</ref> Métayage was used in French colonies, particularly after the demise of slavery. Also, because of its utility métayage spread to nearby British colonies such as Nevis, St. Lucia and Tobago.<ref>Richardson, Bonham C. (1992) ''The Caribbean in the Wider World, 1492-1992: A Regional Geography'' Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, p. 74. {{ISBN|0-521-35186-3}}</ref><ref>Marshall, W.K. (1965) “Métayage in the Sugar Industry of the British Windward Islands, 1838-1865" ''The Jamaican Historical Review'' 5:28-55.</ref> It still occurs in former French possessions, particularly in [[Madagascar]].<ref>[http://www.ilo.cornell.edu/ilo/briefs.html ''Dynamics in Social Service Delivery and the Rural Economy of Madagascar: Descriptive Results of the 2004 Commune Survey'' International Labour organization (ILO), (April 2005)]</ref> In the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|Congo]] the system is used in the vicinity of [[Kahuzi-Biéga National Park]] as a means to protect the natural environment.<ref>[http://www.irec.net/index.jsp?p=28&f=227 irec.net: "Le metayage agricole comme l'un des moyens de la protection des ressources naturelles de kahuzi biega" (Ntamwira Kasigwa: thesis, 2000)]</ref> In Mexico the system is used in animal husbandry.<ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/45515239_Le_mtayage_d%27levage_au_Mexique__colonisations_foncires_et_dynamiques_d%27une_institution_agraire_dans_l%27histoire_contemporaine "Le métayage d'élevage au Mexique : colonisations foncières et dynamiques d'une institution agraire dans l'histoire contemporaine" (H. Cochet, Eric Léonard, Bernard Tallet)]</ref>
The term ''métayage'' is also applied to modern-day flexible cash leases at least in the nominally common law Canadian province of [[Ontario]],<ref>''Flexible Cash Lease Agreements/Contrats de métayage portant sur les cultures'', Factsheet 812 (2001) Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Ontario accessed at [http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/french/busdev/facts/01-068.htm][https://web.archive.org/web/20070802143042/http://omafra.gov.on.ca/french/busdev/facts/01-068.htm] with English version at [http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/busdev/facts/01-069.htm][https://web.archive.org/web/20090328025503/http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/busdev/facts/01-069.htm] June 20, 2006</ref> and in 2006 in all of Canada, 13,030 farms occupying 2,316,566ha were counted by Statistics Canada.<ref name=statscan>[http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/95-629-x/4/4124092-fra.htm statcan.gc.ca: "Mode d'occupation, 2006: Tableau 4.5-5 - Mode d'occupation déclaré des terres possédées, louées, en métayage ou utilisées sous d'autres arrangements - Superficie en métayage, année de recensement 2006"]</ref> The same study of metayage found 2,489 farms covering 130,873ha in Ontario.<ref name=statscan/> The system was useful in Quebec for most agricultural properties at least as far back as the year 1800,<ref>[http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/antrobus_john_5E.html biographi.ca: "DCB entry for ANTROBUS, JOHN"]</ref> and is still tracked statistically by value in Quebec as "LOYER EN ESPÈCES ET À LA PART -- AGRICULTURE".<ref>[http://www.bdso.gouv.qc.ca/pls/ken/Ken254_Clas.page_clas?p_iden_tran=REPERULWQEM50-125261503633b$u%29&p_lang=2&p_id_03t03=1053 bdso.gouv.qc.ca: "Databank of Official Statistics on Québec - Definitions"]</ref> It appears to benefit from favourable tax treatment in Canada,<ref>[http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/F/pub/gl/p-253/p-253-f.pdf "Énoncé de politique sur la TPS/TVH - Metayage" (P-253) 13 Jan 2009] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004033801/http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/F/pub/gl/p-253/p-253-f.pdf |date=2013-10-04 }}</ref> where it is known as "sharecropping".<ref>[http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/F/pub/tg/t4036/t4036-f.html cra-arc.gc.ca: "Revenus de location 2013" T4036(F) Rév. 13]</ref> In forestry metayage is the subject of a Government of Canada infosheet,<ref>[https://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/publications?id=25075 nrcan.gc.ca: "La ferme forestière en métayage. 2004. Masse, S. Ressources naturelles Canada, Service canadien des forêts, Centre de foresterie des Laurentides, Québec, QC. L’éclaircie No. 11. 2 p."]</ref> and socio-economic report,<ref>[http://www.modelforest.org/media/k2/attachments/BSL_Viabilit_socio_conomique_FR.pdf "La viabilité socio-économique de la ferme forestière en métayage" (Masse, S: Service canadien des forêts, Centre de foresterie des Laurentides, Natural Resources Canada)]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and has been the subject in Quebec of recent scholarly research.<ref>[http://theses.ulaval.ca/archimede/fichiers/23961/23961.html ulaval.ca: "Des fermes forestières en métayage sur le territoire public québécois. Vers un outil d'évaluation pour les communautés" (Roy, ME: MSc thesis, 2006)]</ref>
==Criticism==
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